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The Pound Shop Electrofag returns

Two years ago I wrote about the 88vape Electrofag on sale for a pound – that was in Poundland. Well, the replacement clearomizers and the juices remained on sale at £1 each but the rechargeable kit vanished. I did see it briefly back on display recently but I think it was about £5. Still cheap.

I guess they can’t manage to sell that kit at £1 but after two years those rechargeable batteries are likely to be worn out. And yet the clearomizers and juices are still on sale to this day.

Now there has been a development. The display now includes a disposable, single use battery for £1. A bottle of juice, a clearomizer and a battery comes to £3. That’s still dirt cheap. Who could resist trying it out? Not me…

The clearomizer has to have the ‘contains nicotine’ warning on the pack even though it contains no nicotine until it’s unpackaged and filled. This is because our medics and government are run by mindless arseholes who have no idea what they are talking about – but everyone already knows that.

Inside the packs you get this –

The battery is clearly labelled ‘disposable’ because it is the same size and (obviously) has the same end connection as the rechargeables. If it fits the clearomizer it will also fit the charger but don’t do that. It’s likely to give you an indoor firework display you’ll never forget and always regret. The battery costs a pound. Get a new one.

Filling the clearomizer is simple enough – remove the black plastic mouthpiece and use the thin nozzle fitted to the bottle to run juice down the inside without getting it into the top of the vapouriser. Then screw the two parts together and you’re ready to roll. This one has a push-button to activate the heater. I don’t know if anyone still makes the ones you just had to take a puff on.

The juice I bought is ‘rolling leaf’ flavour, which I haven’t seen before so I thought I’d try it. As I’ve said many times here, I have yet to find a tobacco flavour that gets even close to real tobacco flavour. It might not be possible. This one is 10 ml of 16mg/g juice, good enough for a trial run.

So, is it any good? Well, it works. I find I have to hold the button down for longer to get a good head of steam. The battery isn’t as powerful as the 88vape rechargeable one by a long way but it does work. Maybe I got a dud this time. I’ll risk £1 to try another one next time I’m in town.

There is nothing on the packaging to indicate how long the battery can be expected to last. I’ll just have to see how it goes.

As for the flavour, well it is an improvement over other tobacco flavours I’ve tried but still, it’s not right. I won’t be throwing away the real thing just yet. Electrofag will remain a novelty for me so I can smoke coffee and roast chicken and absinthe. It doesn’t taste like a real cigarette – yet.

Still, if you’re a smoker who is curious about vaping and want to try it without buying a load of gadgetry, this is worth a punt. The minimum price for 20 cigarettes in the UK is now around £7.25 and if you want the good ones you’re going to be paying over £10 a pack. So risking £3 to try out vaping is well worth it.

You don’t have to worry about batteries blowing up on charging with this one, you just replace the battery. And even if it all ends up in the bin, well, you couldn’t buy half a pack of cigarettes for £3 so the loss is minimal.

So far, Electrofag isn’t going to turn me away from smoking but it has done just that for a huge number of people. Will it work for you? There’s only one way to find out and now you can try it for £3.

Worth a go, I’d say.

UPDATE: I tried the clearomizer on the old 88vape rechargeable battery (mine still works) and yes, that works much better. Could be I just bought a dud disposable battery. I’ll try another one next time I’m near Poundland.

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8 thoughts on “The Pound Shop Electrofag returns”

The batteries are actually rechargeable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOYkOPRPap4 From memory they are about half the capacity of the officially rechargeable ones. It’d be easy enough to pull out the (probably poor) cell and bung in a lithium polymer cell that will fit in the tube

I’m disappointed. I stopped smoking in 1980 when 20 B&H were 90p and haven’t been tempted to start again by all your glowing – see what I did there ? – endorsements. The way our betters go on I’d expected to have had a sly drag by now. I will however, sit quietly in a corner counting all the money I’ve saved along the way . . . there, that didn’t take long.

I know it’s akin to blasphemy, but for once I can’t totally agree with you.

The problem with el cheapo e-cigs is often the battery quality: apart from those potential Darwin award winners who keep an uncapped L-Ion battery in their pocket with keys & loose change, cheap batteries of that type are more likely to go in for self-immolation. I’d always recommend paying the £20 or so for a decent vape.

Regarding the liquids, I use a company in Manchester, One Pound Liquids (https://www.onepoundeliquid.com). I have no connection with them, other than as a satisfied customer for over a year now. I used to be a 20/day roll-up man, but I switched to a vape Feb 2015 and haven’t touched a fag since. I get through 3 bottles of juice every two weeks – that’s just £1-50 per week. Much more affordable.

Yes, the £1 battery is poor but for someone just wanting to give it a go, it’s only a £3 risk. Those who take to it can then go on to decent kit – which is still going to be less than a couple of days of real cigarettes for most people.

I recently caught sight of the price of UK rolling tobacco. Ye gods! I’m glad I have a supply from Denmark where it’s about £30 for 200 grams of tubing/rolling baccy.

I haven’t tried the batteries but I’ve been using the £1 PL clearomisers for around three years. I bought thirty when a ban was a possibility. They last a long time and perform as well as any others I’ve tried.